Michael Eastman Photographs the Cinemas and Dives of ‘Vanishing America’

As small towns fade into ghost towns and industrial cities become casualties of post-industrial society, artists — and especially photographers — have become fascinated with the decay of 20th-century Americana. Since we also find these images absorbing (albeit depressing), we’ve seen and posted quite a few over the past year or two. But there’s a special quality to David Eastman’s Vanishing America series, which we discovered via Faith Is Torment, that we don’t often see in photos like these. Weathered though they are, the cinemas, roadhouses, and restaurants Eastman captures are also vibrantly colored and full of character, their homemade signs and bright facades radiating a shabby dignity. Click through to see some of our favorite shots from the series, and visit Eastman’s website for more of his work.